after 1945 No 27

                                                                 After 1945 No 27




With the wedding now over,it has been arranged that anyone who wishes can join with others at the hall which my Mum and Dad use for their  old tyme  dancing club.and there they will put on an evening of Modern and old tyme dancing for those who wish to come.there will also be some light refreshments available,meanwhile Angela and I will be taken by Tony and Jessy with my Dad and Mum,and  Angelas  Dad  down  to Dover in his car so that we can catch the train ferry.to France to begin our Honeymoon in Italy.Mum Dad and Jessy with Tony will then return to the  dancing  back in Canterbury,meanwhile Angela and I will be on the ferry which takes us to France. then by train  to Paris,where we will change  to the express  night train  to Marseilies, then again changeing there to another train which will take us along the beautifull Mediterraneon coast to San Remo in Italy.we arrive at the hotel  which is lovley,and it has very nice large  bedrooms and a balcony which overlooks the main road in San Remo.  after a nice shower,and unpacking our things,we go down to the restraunt where we  are intruduced to our waiter whose name is Bruno.the  evening meal is Spagetti, and we are not used to eating this, so Bruno shows us how to twist it around the fork  this causes a lot of laughs,as it keeps slipping off the fork, Bruno is a really great chap,  so we  really feel welcome  here, After eating  Angela  and I decide that we will take a walk along the road  to the sea front,also to get an idia  how the town is set out as it happens .the beach is only a stones throw way from the hotel,So next morning we decide to go to the beach to do some sunbathing and swimming,at beakfast we  hear another couple speaking English, and it turns out they to are on honeymoon too,so we team up  and decide we will all go together for a day on the beach and swim.the sea, the water is  lovley and warm and so very clear that you can see the bottom which dosnt look far down but when I try to swim to it  I have to give up because its still  a long way away.and deeper than you would imagion,Next day we  walk around the shops to see what they sell.then we meet the other two.and decide that maybe we can hire a car sometime,  and do a trip along the coast to  visit Monti Carlo,  Nice Canns, Etc. as I am the one who holds a full licience,I will have to be the driver, we will find a car hire company sometime next day, and hire a little car.and do this.so run,  next morning  we find a hire car company and ask if we can hire one for the day.but the owner says I will have to  aquire an Italian licience,but this will not be a problem  as he will  go with me to  the  licienceing  department,  he will translate  for me  from English to Italian.So now I have been given an Italian Licience  My name becomes Leonardo .Pankhurst. so now  he can hire us a little Fiat 900 so this is great, and  we are all O K for the run.next day.I  drive it back to the hotel and park it so we can get an early start  to-morrow morning.  now I have to rember to drive on the right not on the left

After 1945 No 26

        after 1945 No 26


Now ,we can make a we seem to have sorted out the basic problems,we can make a decision  as to our wedding,arrangments together we have chosen the 22nd of September 1956 and to have our honneymoon somewhere nice and warm,so we have  decided that a town called San Remo just inside the Italian boarder sounds lovley,so we  have  decided  to book this through Thomas Cook of course we will not tell anyone about it.and keep it a secret. of course now people know we are getting married they keep asking where we  are going for our honneymoon so we have to say we havnt decided as yet.when we eventualy are married  we will have to ask Tony or someone to take us to the ferry terminal at Dover  to catch the fery over to france,from there we will travel down through France  by train to Marseillie and change  to another train which runs along the French Riveria to San Remo.so all is arranged, now all we have to do is look forward to the wedding day,we have to go to the chuch twice a week in the evenings  and listen to the priest babble on mostley in latin, { which we dont understand  }  apparently this is usual in the cathlic church,its really to get us  to rember when we  will have to come in during the wedding service.and respond .at last  the  very important wedding day arrives and  all the recording equipment  has been set up for Billy to do his recording, then then  are told that we shall be married on the side alter.not the main alter,this is because Angela is Cathlic and I am Church of England  and  I have not taken up the Cathlic  faith.its funny but the Side Alter is more  or less the same as the Main Alter, cant see what the real reason is  for his decision. but we are not really botherd lets just get on with the  Marriage,   I must say that the Church is relly been decked out lovley  with lots of beatifull  flowers,The organ begins to play and Angelas  and her Dad  start the long walk up the isle,I take a quick look back and I must say Angela looks absolutly  beatifull  just like a filmstar.  at last  it comes to the part where we have to say I take the Angela  Mary Kenny,to be my Lawfull wedded wife an Angela replies  with I do. then its the same thing repeated and its my turn to say I will,Then Eric my Best man { who was good enough to stand in  in place of Alan who was called to go to the Suez }. at the last minute. gives me the ring which the priest  blesses and tell me to put it onto Angelas Finger,and then  pronounces us Man and Wife.I know now that I am a responsable for another persons welfare.

after 1945 No 25

                                                                                                          After 1945  No 25


Angela has found a flat in Canterbury,right next to the entrance to the cathedral,so we are going to have a look at but, it wont be ready  untill later on in 1956 because it  has to be refurbished,this would suit us because we will be able to look for furniture and beds etc and have it stored untill the flat is ready,its seems funny the two us looking at a flat and furniture,I really  cant beleive it  we are really going to be a couple, I suppose this is the meaning of comitment,working together  and shareing  things and idias and thoughts. We have  decided to make an appointment with the Priest to dicuss our wedding plans with him,and we know we will have problems with him at last the evening comes when we have arranged to meet with the priest,who of course knows Angela but I sense he is not all that keen on me,anyway we sit and listen to him  talk,asking us if we realise the true meaning of marriage and what it involves, etc etc then comes the real point of the meeting,regards me changing my faith to that of cathlic faith,and then the children will be welcome  into the cathlic faith and the church,I sayI see no reason why I should  have to change my faith,he reminds me that as a cathlic Angela cannot marry  one who is of the church of England faith, or any other faith come to that,,so unless I change, and become  Cathlic he cannot marry us,I say  that this amounts to a form of blackmail, and is not very christian like.but he says there is nothing he can do about it,so I should go away and think  hard about it.Angela  then says we could be married in the chuch of England, he says that we would be living in sin in that case as the marriage would not be reconised in the cathlic chuch, so Angela says we would do this if nessesary so I remind him that this would not be the case in my church,and would be perfectly legal, but he then says that Anglea would be making a  great sin,and could be xcomunicated from the Cathlic church,so he sujests that we talk to Tony and Jessy and come back and see him again with the right decision,We do talk to Tony and Jessy,and say that we could  be married in my church, but then they say that they could not go into a chuch of England as it would be a sin,and they would not consider that we were truly married anyway.Now I realise what my Mother meant when she said  I would have trouble with Angela  as a wife, we return to see the priest to tell we have made a decision, and will be married in my chuch, and then one in his.if he will agree to this.then both families would be happy.he says  that he will only agree with this after speaking to his Bishop and getting his decision.so we arrange another meeting with him,the next meeting with him  is also dissapointing,because he  says that he would only except this arrangment if I will sign a document to say I will have any children brought up in the cathlic faith,I again say that this is blackmail and I will not do it.he then says that this is the end of the matter, he will not marry us,Angela whispers  to me just do it Len !!  and let him think he  has won.so I say I will agree to his request  he says I have made the right decision.and will marry us so thats it,we can now get on with our Marriage plans,and set a date for the  22nd September 1956 so Tony and Jessey  will  also be happy that we have made the right decsion in their eyes.so all is O K at the moment it seems. so .Angela can now  decide to get her wedding dress made,and the design she wants. and I can make arrangements for our honeymoon, I think we should go abroad,to Italy to a place called San Remo on the mediteranian coast.I have have been saving up for this and have now paid for it. with Thomas Cook travel agents. a friend of mine { Billy Little } ask me if I would like to have our wedding recorded, and he would love to do it for us,as a wedding present. I say  that would be great,so I will ask the priest if  this will be O K..at our next meeting with him and  I must say I dont hold out much joy as regards this,but can only ask.so at the next meeting I ask him if this would be possible, and he says no this is not possible,in the cathlic church, as it happens Prince Rainer of Manoco and Princss Grace are also getting married  that month, and are having a whole film company  filming theirs, so I mention this to him,and ask if this is because they have money and are famous, and Angela and I not famous or wealthy,.and I understand that money dosnt count in the eyes of God.so whats the differents betreen them and  us.I can see he really dosnt know how to answer that one.and  says  that perhaps something could be arranged for us to do this. this time I win,.I dont think he has had anyone stand up to him and his church so much before, and will be glad to get rid of us,I dont really have much time for these religius ministers and priests they dont like you to question  their beleifs they prefere you to obay.not question.and somtimes  they dont know quite how to answer you.  
                   

after 1945 No 7

                                                                        
After 45 No 7/


I am now earning a decent wage so Angela and I can go out for drives in
the evenings,and meet the lads, have a drink,so  we all get along well
having fun and going to the dances,I am shure Angela and I are really
meant for each other  because we get along so well together,also she is
a terrific dancer, I wonder if  I ask her, if she might say yes to us
getting engaged,and get married in the future,its a big dicision to
make, but I really do love her,and she does love me, and feels that we
were made for each other.but it would mean having to look for somewhere
to live, like getting a flat or house somewhere,so I will need to pick
the right time and place to ask her.anyway after going to a dance one
evning we are sitting in the car outside Mrs Kennets and I decide hat
this might be the right time to ask her to marry me.so I pop the
question, and to my delight she says she would love to.,so we will
start looking at engagement rings, but I will have to tell my Mum and
Dad, and wonder what their reaction will be.also we will have to tell
Tony and Jessy this may be a bit awkward because Tony and I dont really
get on all that well,but because Angela hasnt lived with them for
sometime  it might be a little easier  because Angela has become more
independent these days after living at Mrs Kennets but  we will have to
see,when we mention it to Freda and her boyfriend Jeff they say that
they are also going to get engaged  as well  so that good for them .
now I must tell Mum and Dad,My Dad says he has no objections, and he
likes Angela  very much, but  says it is a big dicision for us both,
and hopes we have thought things through.but is all for it if thats
what we want.my Mum isnt so shure she says there is a lot difference
going out with a girl, but when you get married you have more
responseabilities.also Mum says I will have a lot of trouble  trying to
marry a Cathlic girl. and should  we have children they will insist
that we bring them up in the Catholic Faith,also  they will insist that
I change my faith to theirs. Mum beleives one should be allowed to
choose your faith,and Cathlics are not allowed to do that,I mentioned
all this to Angela,next time we meet, and she says that she has not 
been to church for a very long time.and also dosnt beleive how the
chuch  treat their members, and do dominate them so isnt really all
that bothered, and as regards her brother Tony, he can take a running
jump as far she is concerned,so we will go and see  the priest and see
how he reacts to us,and our thoughts of Marriage.Jessy is delighted
about us getting married, and thinks we make a lovley couple.Tony I
feel  is not of,the same oppinion, but Angela says she is over
twentyone, so he has no control over what she decides to make of her
decisions.or life.

life after 1945 No 6

                                                                    life after 1945 No 6



Now that my National Service is comming to near its end in Novermber 1954 I am beginning to wonder what it will be like to  be a civilian again,and to be able to do what I like when I like without having to have a pass,there  are 4 of us due for De Mob so we decide to go around the camp together as we have to get a clearance  ticket from all the sections on the camp to say we are clear from them.this has to be done before we can get our discharge papers and warrants to go home,also we have to  hand back our uniforms  except  for the greatcoats,  peak caps, and boots,the reason for this is because we shall be on call for 4 years incase we are needed for anything during those years.and need to be called up again.we must also organise a de- mob party at the local pub,for everyone in our billet or section,except for those who are on leave or duty so we all put a donation into a [ pot usualy about 5 shillings, { twentyfive new pence } this will let everyone drink as much as they  like and crawl back to camp afterwards,hopeing that they will not be charged for being drunk by the gaurd house  when we hand back our passes,some of the lads have been charged in the past by the R A F police,who are also stationed on the camp, and have put them on a charge.in the past, so we crawl back to bed in the billet,after a good night  but three or four of the lads decide to get back on  the police lads,and tell the rest of us to put out the lights in the billet so that it looks a though we have been in bed for some time, and are all asleep,the rest of us are a little concerned as to what they may do,because if they are cought we shall all be in trouble,and this could delay our demob in the morning,as we could  all be put on charges  of some kind,anyway we do  as they ask and all get to bed,put out the lights and pretend to be asleep,when  suddenly there is a rush into the billet, and these  four lads  rush in and climb into their beds still in their civvies,and also prentending  to be asleep, a little later  the military police  are in the billet putting on the lights and ask us if we have  seen or heard anyone or anything,we say that we were all aleep  untill they came in and woke us up by putting on the light and making a noise,I hope they dont make us get out of bed because they would then see that the other boys are still in civvies that would be the end for all of us, luckly they seem to think we were  genuinely sleeping after our demob party down at the pub,and they leave us alone, We ask what the lads had done,to get their  revenge on them, they tell us that they had got two foam extinguishers put them facing the door of the police billet,knocked on the door and then set off  the extinguisers,so you can guess what  happened when the M Ps opened their door,they were coverd in white foam from head to toe. I suppose this was the reason they  were slow getting around  the billets,as they would have to have changed their  uniforms  and clear up the mess.They never did found  out who the colprits were so we were safe thank goodness.
               Next morning we have to collect our discharge  papers from the units we visited  the other day, and our rail passes home,it seems strange to realise that I am now free to return to civvie street for good.and get my old job back at the dental lab where I did my apprenticeship I will  be what is known as an improver for awile,under the supervision of a senior technician,so the next thing I shall have to do is go and see my old Dental sergeon about  returning  to work with him again,He is very pleased to see me ,but has some bad news because  he says he hasnt a vacancy for me,and although  he is supposed to take me on after my National Service { this is the law } it would mean he would  have to sack Eric, the senior.technician,and  seeing that I have not done any dentisty  for  two years  I wouldnt be  able to do some of the work, and would be slow. also he is a married man,and  has resposablities that I dont.this is a blow  for me  as I was hoping to get back with him.after a few weeks holliday,but instead I will have to sign onto the dole and look for another position.so this I do, but they dont have any vacanies for dental technicians on their books but I will recieve two pounds and ten shilling a week. untill I find work. I have been uninployed for about four weeks when I hear there is a job with another dentist in canterbury,so I go to see him,his practice is called Bradley and Post,and he says he will take me on as an improver so this is good news,so life is good .and I can see Angela  every day and we can go out together again.Angela has  decided to move to lodgings with a nice couple who live in  the Sturry Road  called Mr and Mrs Kennet,but they are pretty strict about time and  when she should get home at night, this applies to her own doughter Freda who also has a boyfriend called Jeff so if we go out we have to make shure that we get the girls home on time,this means ten o clock, and we have to get pemission from Mrs Kennet if we want to go to the pictures or a dance,this a bit of a nuisance  as the cinamas dont close  untill around ten or ten thirty, and the dancehalls are open untill twelve oclock but its O K we can manage with that.Now that Angela lives where she is, I can pick her up on my way to work, and again home after work in my car.so things are great at last. 

life after 1945 no5

                                                          
                                                                                 After 1945 No 5.


Had a loveley weekend with Angela,and am so pleased that we are still together,alsoI hear that my old school pal Len Smith is being called up and is also going into the R A F,another pal Derek Butler is also in the R A F,and maybe joining me on my unit at Ruislip so I will have some company to travel with at weekends,this gives me an idia,if I apply to the C O and ask permission to bring my car onto camp, we can drive home every weekend together,I fill in the aplication form which he will sign and  if I am lucky I may get the O K eventualy to bring my car onto camp,lots of the chaps have their cars on camp and some their motorcycles,sometimes  I go with one of the lads  in his car,for runs into the town or the Lido which is in a park near the camp.
         The morning that I have to  report to the Dental Centre  I am told  by the wing commander in charge that I shall be working in the store,this is  a supprise to me, as I undrstood that I would be working in the lab,I ask this wing Cmdr why,and he say that beacause I have  less than a year to go,its not worth him allowing  me into the lab.to work.I am told by other staff that this wing cmdr is a right snob and treats everyone under him as if they were out of the gutter,this even includes  other Officers  and underlings,anyway they say that he is due to leave very soon and we will have another one come in.to take his place, I am disapointed that I will not work in the laboratory as the  flt Sarge  had hoped but I can still catch up on a few tips from  the other dental  lads and even cast a few impressions  for them WOW !! how great  I will really learn from that. but its nice of them to  let m do odd things.but the wng cmdr  must never find out.or we will all be for it.this dental Hospital is very small but deals with all the very high ranking officers such as Air Officer Comanding,. {  AOC } these Officers are like gods  or they think they  are, but I suppose if you are that high up in rank  they a are,because you cant get any higher, or you would be higher than the Duke of Edinburgh, and you cant  do  that. because there is no rank higher than him.so they are equal..I have an uncle thats a wng Cmdr so I hope he dosnt come into the hospital as I would have to treat him like any other officer.couldnt Call him uncle Dave could I ?? so I hope he never has to come in.
         Because there  are so many diffierent  officers from other Nations  in london its hard to know  who are  intitled to a salute,and many  lads have been charged  for not doing just that its even got to state where we are throwing salutes up to a doorman, at a hotel, so we hear that  they are  going to request tthat we should wear civvies to and from the centre,  and change into our uniforms at the centre,so now we will wear civvies from now on,I  have at last recieved  permission  that I can  bring my car on  camp this means that when I go home this weekend I can come back in my car,and then Derek and I can travel together at weekends.Derek will come down to the Dental Centre and  meet me there,after work.so all is working out O K just like being in civvie street.I  meet the Flt Sgnt that got me the transfere one evening and he say he was sorry to hear I had not been let into the Dental laboratory as a Technician, as he had intended but I say  thats  its O K,  anyway and not his fault,he did what he thought was best for me.only thing is I  will never get any promotion, still not to worry.
       the New wng Cmdr  has arrived and he seems a nice chap. ex bomber pilot,and is  like other officers who are automaticly pilot officers if they are dentists,and most of the ones in the centre are ex pilots who flew in the war, and are more one of the boys than  officers.great  chaps,only one trouble with these guys is now that the other wng. cmdr. is away. they tend to treat the place like home,they hold parties at the weekends, and  some are a little wild  and because there are beds  in the  hospital,for recoveries, they have girls in over the weekends, eventualy they are told that it must stop or at least cut down on it, these chaps even take the lads out for drinks sometimes but they could  get into  trouble for doing this, because other ranks are not supposed to mix with officers in the R A F there are Officers Messes, Seargents messes, Cpls messes, and otrher ranks messes. the  R A F is very snobby, and you have to rember your position..and not mix with these other ranks in or off camp the .but dont think many take much notice of this order.except if you are on the camp.    

after 45 No 4

                                                                             LIFE AFTER 1945.No 4


The Monday arrives, and  I have to start work so I catch the bus to Canterbury,but I confess I feel a little nervous because I dont know exactly what I will be doing, so arriving at the depot I meet the manager  Mr Moyse.,who thinks the best thing for me to start with, would be in the packing department, where everything is packed and  taken to the post office for distributation to there clients, so thats my job  to start with, and I have to enter everything into a post book so that there is a record of the goods being sent.and what  the postage is on them,so thats my first day at work and I quite enjoyed it.we sell  everything that the dentist use, and the Dental Technicians use, the technicians are the men who make the actual false teeth,and crowns inlays etc.I have now worked here for some time, and have saved enough money to think I could buy a new cycle,so will start looking at the different cycles that are for sale.in the shops.eventuauly I decide that I like the new racing bike,that has  three speeds,but it costs trwenty pounds so if I want this one I will have to pay some of it with installments because its more than I have saved up, My dad isnt too keen on me doing this because he dosnt beleive in buying  this way.but he say he will sign the agreement so that I can buy it.so I  put down my ten pounds,and this means I can have the cycle.in a couple of days.at last the day come when I can pick up the bkie and ride it home,I  must say I like it even more  now that its all made up and I can ride it,so I feel  on top of the world, and very happy ,now I will be able to ride to work every day so saving the bus fare which will now go to  help in paying  off the hire purchase account. I will be  doing about twelve miles a day going to and from work,and home for dinner.at lunch time.also I will be able to go out with my pals,like Len Smith. Brian Southern .Allan fuller, Johny Kirkham,Allans dad is the local Police Seargent for our area, and he lives in broad Oak,so  now we can all  ride up to meet Allen and go for faily long rides into the country,sometimes even to Herne bay,which is a twlve mile round trip.Must confess its great to be able to go places together.we even meet to ride to work in the mornings..   

 

                                                                            Life After 1945  No 3

  I rember  on one day I was given the cane for being acused of hitting a girl, { let me say hear and now  I would never hit a girl at all.} but what happened was when changing classes for the next  lesson we had to  walk along  the passage way to the next classroom there wa another  class changing from theirs to another,and our two line  passed each other,I saw a girl that I liked in the other line,and we had talked about  having a date,sometime, and as we passed I put out my hand to touch her as we passed,but the head master saw this and thought I had hit her,so ordered me to his office where I recieved  ten of the best on my hands,there was no good trying to explane what  had taken place because  he woulnt have listened anyway,and you were  always accused of lieing any way,so I had sore hands for best part of the week,and on one occasion one boy had to be  taken to the hospital after recieving the cane  from this head master.we heard that after this happened the boys farther went to the school and draged the headmaster from his office,and gave him a beating,  but nothing was ever heard  of.regards this, This headmaster was well known for his cruelty,and he was a sadistic man,I was glad that my time at school was nearing its end,and I would be able to look for  some work,of some kind I dont know what  as I had not really given it much thought,At last the day arrives when all those leaving school have to present themselves at the to the main hall,to recieve their school leaving certifacates and shake hands with the teachers who have had to put up with us through the last years,so thats it I am now adult enough at fourteen years of age to enter into the real world, prividing I can get a job that is,in our area,  most jobs are either working on the land ,in a shop,or office,I would not be able to work in an office  because of my lack of education,and I dont want to work on a farm as I know what this entails having relations who have them,anyway I dont like farming.My Mum says there is a job advertised for work in a Dental supply company as a counter hand, and sujests that perhaps I should apply for this;and go for the interview,this  appeals to me too as its different to most jobs,unless you have a really good  education and could become a solicitor or something but you would also have to have parents who could afford to pay for you to be endentured to one.I think this is around one hundred pounds so is out  of reach for most families,so I go to see the manager of this dental shop,I  explane to him that I am not very good with Maths but he say he will give me a chance to prove myself, and I can start work on the following Monday after  leaving school.

after 45 No 2

                                                                 After 45 No 2



There was only one boy in that school who didnt like me very much,and he was the school bully,he always picked fights with new boys,or made fun of them untill they cried,one day when we were playing cricke he decided to pick on me,and saying I was no go good,and calling me pancake,I had had enough of him in the past but never bothered to answer him because he had a bit of a tough gang  of boys  in his gang,this day he decided to have a go at me again,he seemed to like trouble,I always  tried to avoid trouble,But this time I had had enough, I just turned on him and landed a good punch on his face,he was so taken aback, and supprised that he was taken off gaurd so I landed him with another good punch,then we were soon rolling on the ground fighting and restling,which ended with his nose bleeding,and a sore arm and me with a black eye and sore ribs,a teacher eventualy parted us and we were given five hundred lines to do after school.so this meant I would be late getting home,because you were not allowed to leave school untill you completed them,I eventualy finnished mine, but I was concerned that his pals might  be waiting for me outside school, or perhaps had damaged my bike,but there was no one to be seen, and  my bike was O K so I was pleased about this.When I got home my Mum and Dad had wondered where I had been, but I told them what had happened at school,my Dad said I had done the right thing to have a go at this boy,and perhaps now  he would leave  me alone.I really never thought I could loose my temper, and get involved in a fist fights, but was pleased that I had made a stand aginst him, but I was also concerned that he and his mates would have another go at me next day at school,When I arived  at school next morning  he was waiting for me, I thought here we go again,he came over to me and  said that he didnt think I would fight like I did, and wondered if I would like to be part of his gang,I wasnt very interested but said I would,mainly so that I wouldnd have any more trouble with him and his gang,I tryed to talk him out of being a bully sometimes, but it was a part of his life and I think it was his way of being respected by others.also I learned that his Dad who was a minor working down the pit and was also  involved in fights at the pub,quite often, so it was  something I suppose that he had to do because his farther was the same. and he  had to try to keep his Dads respect  by being a tough lad.

after 1945 No 1

                                                                             LIFE AFTER 1945

Now that the war is over,we can now perhaps start to live a little better, not so many restrictions,for a start we can go out without takeing those Gas Masks with us,of course food is still rationed,and we still have clothing coupons for getting clothing,and  we have couponds for petrol,so me and my pals can now go out for rides on our bikes after school,without the thought that there may be an air raid warning sounding off,and having to run for cover back home to our shelters.We still attend school,but after school and tea,we meet up at the pub in Fordwich { not to drink } but its a meeting place for us, there is Len Smith.Brian southern.Allan Fuller,the Tod boys. Jimmy Tamset.Roy White.Roy Edwards,    and we decide what we will do for the evening,sometimes we go for a walk through the woods,sometimes we just go for a ride around the country roads,sometimes we  just  go for long walks and sing, walking along the top road trying hard to harmonise, then its home for bed, and up for school in the morning usualy we all meet and cycle together to school,I"me not very good at lessons at school owing to the year in Wales when I never did any lessons.so when tests come up I am usualy close to the bottom of them, so much so that when they are read out by the master he usualy says  { and now to Pankhurst,one day he may make 30 %  } I dont think the maths  master likes me very much because if I ask him for some help  he will just say I should pay more attention, and concentrate  more as a result I  dislike  maths  lessons. but I do like woodwork,and metal work,and do get obove average marks for these usualy.also I like biology,most of the boys do because the teacher is pretty.so we pay more attention,to her and when she comes  over  to help with a question she has to bend over to check what we  have  ask about or written.and then you get a good view down her front.this is when I notice that Girls have bomps where boys dont. also they  smell nicer.She used to give extra tuition in the evening after school,at her home,and this  led to her becomming pregnant by one of the older pupils,and they eventualy  got married,as one had to in those days, as it was concidered a disgrace,and the child would be  a Bastard,if born ouside of Marriage,and looked down on.of course she had to leave teaching,but it wasnt as intresting after that because they had a male teacher take over, now that I am fourteen I am old enough to leave school next term, and because  my reports  show that I am behind  a lot of the other pupils, Dad and Mum say if I want I can leave and start work.I suppose.To-day they would blame the teachers  for my lack of education.or the shool.I suppose.as was I stayed on to learn about metawork and Woodwork,geography and science,and what other countries people did  or produced.I  think this is why I was called the professor by some of the kids because I really liked this area of school,I knew profesors usualy smoked pipes,so I took one to school just for a laugh, and one day in assembly I  was at the back of the hall and took out the pipe and  prended to be smoking it,unseen by the teachers,but someone saw what I was doing and started to laugh then others  untill the teachers got wind of it,and ask what was  the joke,and someone said Pankys got a pipe sir, and everyone stared to laugh  actualy I expected to be in real trouble but was never reprimanded or given any detention,infact some of the teachers had to laugh  as well, I was then told to put it away  and said I might have guessed it was you Pankhurst.

Bomb alley kid No 28

                                                              Bomb Alley  Kid  No 28



At last we hear on the radio that the Germans have surrendered,and the war is now over in Europe,so there will be big celebrations,all over  Britain. { except I guess in Wales } because the Germans didnt win and kill all us English, so they wont  celebrate I guess.My Dad says not to be too quick to come home just yet because our house has not been finnished  being re- built just yet,so give it a few more days or  weeks,then we can come home.I will be sorry to leave my two Welsh friends Gorden and Allun,because owing to them my stay wasnt  that bad I suppose. and I would have had a miserable  time here in North Wales without them as friends.When I next see them and tell them that we will soon be going home thay are very happy for me, and say that they are going to move away from this place as well, and are going to live in Porthmadog,  a few days later we hear from my Dad that our house is more or less ready,So Mum says we will pack our things and catch a train on the following Saturday as we have paid for our keep up untill then.I cant wait, and start to pack up my soldiers, and the model planes into the box  that they came in that dad made,Mum packs our clothes into our suitcases, so by the Saturday we are all ready to leave then I  say to mum what shall I do with my little fish. and she says take him and put him back into the river But I want to take him home with me ,so Mum say we can try but he will probbaly die on such a long journey, but I am determined to give it a try.so into his jamjar he goes, in the morning.Allun Gorden and his Mum come to the station to see us off,when the train comes in we find a compartment and open the window  so that we can wave to Gorden Allun and his Mum as the train moves out,I feel a little bit sad as we wave them goodbye.When we arrive at Crew Sation  another  lady joins us in the compartment, and Mum and her sart to talk,this  lady asks about my  little fish, and says I should hang the jar out of the window as the water in his litttle jar must be getting warm,and if I hang it outside the wind will cool it down this is a good idia so I do this  I have to hold onto the jar really tight as the train gathers speed. I Manage this all the way to London where we have to change trains and get into the one that will take us to Canterbury this will only take a two hours from Victoria Station, and we will be back home in Canterbury, I feel kind of strange I cant believe we are really nearly home, when we arrive at canterbury Station my Uncle Jack is there to meet us with a car that I recognise because its the one that was used to pull the fire tender trailer that my dad used to drive for the fire station, its still in the grey colour that I rember,Uncle Jack  tell us he bought it from the council as it wasnt needed any more.so got it for next to nothing, on the way to Jacks Farm we  pass our old house, or as it is now our new house, we are going to the farm so that we can get washed and cleaned up, and my gran will have something for us to eat.after we have eaten and cleaned up I ask if I can go and find my toys that were in the shed that was a store house for our furniture and things,but when I open the big box that the toys are in there are not very many in it.when I ask my Gran where they are she says that probbaly my two cousins John and Ciril have had them to play with,Mum says if thats the case there wont be many left as they break everything,this means that all my trains and railway tracks that dad made for me, and all my dinky cars and everything are no longer there.Mum says there is no point in saying anything to Aunt Flow as she would denigh it anyway.I didnt think that my own realations would do this.so all the railway layouts that dad made, a fort and two really big steam trains  stations Etc are all gone.When we are ready Uncle Jack will take us to our new house, I say I must change the water in the jar for my little fish as he  has lived all the way home,so I take him and the jar down to the gravel pits on jack farm put new clean water in for him.but when we are ready to leave I find he has died.so I am so sad that he has but no one told me that a change of water  would kill him and he should have been left in the  jar and gradualy left to get used to the new water and tempriture, so I put him in a match box and bury him.so my happiness  was a little sad.Anyway I still have my Mum and Dad,which is the  best thing about comming home, but because my dad has to work he cant come home untill  later on as he still works in Chatham with Short Brothers factory,it isnt very long before I meet up with my old play friends Len Smith, and Derek Butler, his brother Allen,and of course their sister Jean.also  Brian Southern, Roger Goodman, but again I have to go to school  as I am only thirteen,but will attend the county modern school up at Hersden, about two miles away but I still have a cycle so we can all cycle together to school,some pupils go by buses others walk .
           Now at last we can all start to regain our old friendships,and I am lucky that my Dad is able to come home and stay at last. New friends will come along.,but this will be another part of my life.after we all leave school,and start to go to work.

Bomb alley kid No 27

                                                                                bomb alley kid No 27


Mum andi start to go on the trains to other places  around Wales ,such as Colwyn bay,Llandudno, Porthmadog,and we sometimes take Gorden and his brother Allun,as they ar good friends of mine and  mums I have had tea with them and they with us, we also go to the cimema together,but I am still not excpted by the majority of the other Welsh  kids,but  who cares.they are not worth bothering with anyway,or that teacherwho still more or less ignors me in classand continues to talk in Welsh to everyoneone, so I am not being tought anything except  to dislike the Welsh.Good news at last,my Dad has written to say he will be able to come  to see us for a few days.as he has some  leave to come,this is great news, and I cant wait to see him,its been so long.One friday night the lady we stay with comes up stairs to  say there is a man at the  door who would like to see her,I my Mum knew all along who it was but said nothing to me,so that it would be a supprise, I hear footsteps on the stairs and assume  its Mum comming back to our room,but when the door opens its My Dad who stands there.I am so happy and throw my arms around him,and burst into tears,because I hav not seen him for so very long my Mum is also in tears, and my  Dad is  also  teafull as well itsa very emotional  time for us all, My dad has two big suit caseswith him and says I can start to open one of them and start to unpack it I start this and find a wooden box  under some of the clothes, it is about eighteen inches square and six inches deep, dad says I can open t and when I do it has many toy soldiers for me,to play with under them is another layer of  cotton wool,and  under this is is a perfect model of an Sunderland Flyingboat painted  in silver paint,and on the side where the registration No. would be, Dad has put the the year that he made it.1944. but thats not all under the next layer there are  two more aircraft,one is a Spitfire, and the other is an American  Mustang fighter all to scale.down to the last thing.Dad says he  made them from Balsawood which  Short brothers use to make up mockup parts for new bits of the  Sunderlands,which are then sent to be made up in aluminium metal for the real plane.I really cant thank dad  enough for these,but he say its for looking after my Mum for him whilst we are apart. but Dad would say this  because thats my Dad,and how he would  dismiss it,but I know  he really was thinking of me.so I will  hang these up on the ceiling  but not play with them as I woulnt like to  breakany of them,while Dad is here we go for walks,and play bowles in the park which make up part of the Square  where we stay which is { No 15 the Square Bleanau Flestiniog } we also go to the cinema or the shed  that they call a cinema,I tell dad that they dont like the English up here, and I only have two friends Gorden and Allun,I also tell about the teacher who wont speak English so I am not learning anything at school.but I know she can speak English if she wants too.Dad says not to worry  or let it bother me  because he thinks the war may be comming close to the end.and is taking a turn for the better.our soldiers and the Americans are taking more and more ground.
                                                           

Bomb Alley Kid.No 26

                                                                                bomb alley kid No 26


Enventualy my Mum finds a bed and breakfast house in a little villiage called Bleanau Ffestinog away in the hills, I dont want to go to school anymore,because I am fedup with haveing to make new friends,but once again we pack our cases,and set off to find this little place,having found it,and the l who is about my Mums age and seems very nice,she shows us up to the room which we will be staying,and its quite a big room for a change,and has a nice big bed in it which will make more room for me and mum to sleep,as I still have to sleep with Mum,so this will give us more room, my Mum always puts a pillows down the middle of any bed we sleep in,to seperate us, but this is like haveing a third person in the bed and takes up space.The following day having settled in and unpacked,Mum decides that we should go to the school that I will attend,and meet with the head Mistress, its a very small school,and only has three classes,I have never seen such a small school.its really not much more than a shed with three rooms in it. So on the Monday we go to the school to meet the teacher whose class I will be in,she takes me to the class, and introduces me to the other pupils,she tells them I am English,and then talks in Welsh,so I have no idia what she is saying,anyway Mum leavs me to settle in at my desk, the other pupils the lift up the desk lids, and take out slates, and some chalk I have never seen pieces of slate that one has to write on with chalk,the teacher then goes on to speak in Welsh again,so I put up my hand to say I dont understand Welsh,she then says I will pick it up in time,then some of the other kid start to laugh,its all very embarassing for me, and I feel fed up and miserable by the end of the day,I dont think I will enjoy this school at all.also the children are very hostile towards me,and some even say that they hope the Germans win the war and kill all the English because the English drove them all into the hills,which is known as Wales,what they dont seem to realise is if the Germans did win the war they woulnt stop at the boarder of Wales,they would take over Wales a well, after school some of the kid throw stones at me and call me names,but there are two boys that stick up for me, and these two boys become good friends,they tell me that the kids who throw the stones and call me name are from slate quarry families,and are always a rough lot, During the next few weeks things get slightly better,except for the teacher who still ignores me, and one hour or so a week the whole class go into the another class but I am not allowed in because I am English,Gorden and his brother tell me this is where they are tought about the history of Wales,and to learn Welsh.so I have nothing to do during this time except sit in an empty classroom untill they return,I am begining to hate these Welsh kids except for Gorden and his brother,here in this villiage they have never seen or had an air raid or any bombings let alone seem a German plane, or any dead bodies,except in the local picture house,thats also a laugh as the picture house is just a tin shack,and when it rains which is very often,you can hear it hitting the tin roof. Mum and I go to the so called cinema about three times a week because it passes the the time in the evenings for us,A good bit of news is that my Dad has written to say he maybe able to come up to see us for a few days sometime soon,this is great news, I havnt seen my Dad for nearly a full year now, and even though he wrights to me once a week I still miss him a lot,We also hear on the news that our army, and the Americans further down the French coast have landed in France,again,so lets hope that we can push the Germans army back into Germany,and end this war and we can go home.

Bomb Alley kid No 25

                                                            Bomb Alley kid No. 25



My Mum has found a new place for us to move to at last,through  her friends at work,this new place is called LLan in North Wales,so Mum has written to a hotel there to ask if we  could stay there
untill we  can find another house with a room for us to stay,during the next few weeks we begin to pack and make arrangements  to move ,I cant be bothered with another move even further away from home,Wales is a long way away ,Mum says that up there in Wales they have never had any air raids at all ,and dont know what raids are,so this will be like living before the war, so once again its onto a train with our suitcases after saying goodbye to to the lady we stayed with,and  hope things will get better for her as time goes bye,my Mum says  she must put her faith in God as he always does things for a reason,and some good will come from it sometime in the future,but I am begining  to doubt all this.

          Once again we board a train for somewhere that I have never heard of in this country called Wales.we seem to be traveling on this train all day.I know we have to change trains at a place called Crew up north,we talk to many people on route with this train, but I wish we were heading back home,to my Dad  but instead we are heading further away,and I feel I shall never see much of my Dad  as he wont  be able to travel all this distance for just a weekend,at last we arrive at Crew and change trains for another  station Called Colwyn Bay,where we change trains again for another station called Ffestiniog where this hotel is . At last we arrive tired and half dead. at this little villiage or town, and we can at last wash and clean up,I must its nice to be able to get rid of all the smoke and dirt.we are offered a nice cup of tea by the staff. The little hotel is very old fashioned with big wooden beams,I like the big old grandfather clock that stands in the hall because  it tells the moon phases,the month, { also  tells the time,}  also has very nice chimes as well, at dinner we meet two men in uniform which I have not seen before,at least they speak English  which is  nice as trying to understand the  locals is difficult and they speak amoung themselves, for me.it really sounds very funny, these two men tell us that thy are stationed here as they are  from the London Art Gallery, and the most valuable  painting from  the gallery  these are kept in one of the caves up in the hills,for safe keeping,they say that once we have settled in and feel more at home they will take me and another boy that also stays here up to the mountain with my Mum,to let us see the place.apparently the tempriture in the cave is constant, this is very important as the pictures have to be kept at a constant tempriture to stop them from fadeing  and getting damaged,I am looking forward to this sometime,one of the men says if we think we can walk up to the area he will give us  two   of their crown badges that they wear on their shoulder epaulette,as only the people that work at the London gallery can wear these,he says its a long walk and climb and we wont be able to do it,
so he has thrown us  a challenge.we both recon we can do it,if we do we will get a lift back down  in ther car,so this means we wont have to walk all the way down. { I still have these badges } these two men are really nice to me and Mum and the other lad and his Mum,One nice day we ask if this day will be O K to walk up to see them,and they say  O K and will keep an eye open for us,so they draw a map so that we know which road track to keep on,they say it will will take us about an hour or more to reach the entrance so after leaveing the hotel we set off without Mum as she says she has other things to do that day so with some lunch packs  which have been made up for us we ste off .its a lovlely day  so we take our time and  take rests to eat our sndwiches and to look back to where we have come from,it really is a long way back to see the hotel and villiage,and this is only half way up and we can see for miles over other hills and valleys,but at last we come to  the entrance of the cave,which is cover by two big doors and we wonder how we can  get in do we knock  or what ? but the men must have seen us and open up the doors, Inside the tunnell is lit by electric lights,both men are pleased too that we made it up,and take us into a long tunnell to more doors which they say is where the pictures are kept but we cannot go inside as they would get into trouble if they let us in so they take us to another area of this cavern,it really is amazing how it has all been dug out,now that we have been inside,and shown around it is nearly time for the men to  stop work and return  back to to hotel,they lead into anothjer tunnell  at one point you have to  duck down  to miss the roof  this is a different way to what we came in and I dont like being so enclosed and feel a little scared,but they tell it is all perfectly safe and only a few more yards to the exit but boy am I  pleased to see the exit, I dont like such  enclosed places,I didnt know that I would not be so scared,so as far as I am concerened  its the last and only time I go into a small cave.we  then  get into their car  which  was just outsde  this exit and we drive back to the hotel when we get back  the keep their word and give us the two badges as primised,.actualy it was a very good time, and we enjoyed the day out, We stayed at this Hotel for quite some time,but Mum says we will have tio find somewhere  else to stay as its very expensive to stay here,and my Dad cant keep paying out for us to stay here as he has to pay out for his lodgeings in Chatham ,also I am missing a lot of schooling.and will have to find another school to attend.. 

bomb Alley kid No 24

                                                                                    Bomb Alley kid  N0 24



        Mum says she is going with the lady that we stay with to see if she can get a job where this lady works,so she will have to make  new friends if she gets this job,so in some  respects we are both in the same boat, and it will be strange untill we settle in here,My Mother has never had to work before,except when she was  a young nurse way back in her twenties. now the day has come when I have to report to this new school,I feel  very nurvous about this, as its is a very large school,and I feel  lost in it,but after a week or two I have been able to make some friends, and  before  long I can meet some after school, and go out to  play with them so I think now I have settled down  with this new place.and also I am one of the gang, there is another  estate  quite close to us,and  in this estate there is another gang,and they have fights with the gang I am in in this estate these fights are really rough,and they throw stones, and things at us,so we  do the same  back to them  but some of them have catapults which gives them an advantage,so we decide to make some of our own,sometimes there are some nasty injuries on both sides as it happends it is our side that usualy wins the fights.I must admit I never knew that thse things went on because it never happend in my village but I must admit I do enjoy battles and trying to hit one of the otherside with a stone  from my catapolt,must say life here is very different  from what I rember at home.I must admit I dont like this estate very much,or the kids that live here,so I dont care  very much if I hurt any of them,perhaps this is oneway of  getting some of my frustration out of my system .My Mum has got a job at a place called Trinly Park, so at least  we have some money comming in to add to what my Dad sends us,and mum buys little things to make us feel  more at home in our room.My Dad sends us letters,  and he seems to be enjoying  this job at Short Brothers,he say he has to deliver lots of  aircrafty parts like wings  and tailplanes  all over the country, and he has made many new friends, He says that the air raids are still pretty heavy,but he says he is  so tired at the  end of the day that he  sleeps through  most of them,He hopes we are enjoying  where we are but misses us very much, but in some respects we are lucky  to be away  where there are no air raids.or not very many. But we must just rember that we can all be togther once this war is over.God willing.   but one day when I come home from school I find my Mother comforting the lady we stay with,she is in a terrible state,the same as Mrs,Rose was when she heard that her son Raymond had been killed in action,now  its this womans husband that has also been killed, and she is holding the  telegram, telling of terrible  bad news.he was killed action in Africa,I can feel for her a  little because I know how I would  feel if the same thing happend to my Dad,Mum say I should go out to play with the boys,and she will call me in in  due course.
           We have now lived with this lady for about nine or ten months, so the sooner we can win this war the better for all of us.Now that she ha lost her husband she says  she will move and go and live with her sister somewhere up north,I hope this means that we may go home now.But no such luck  as dad says our house  has not been re built as yet.so we cant go back home.so what now I think,what will we do,Meanwhile I have moved up one form at this school in Shinfield Estate. so this means that if we move away again I will have to make new friends just as I was getting on with the friends here.I  feel fed up with  having to keep moving  from place to place.

bob alley kid No 23

Bomb Alley kid N0 23





Having packed our suit cases with whatever we deem important,we say goodbye to my aun,t and uncle thanking them for allowing us to stay with them over the last  six months,Dad helps to carry our cases down to the bus which will take us to the station in Canterbury, and the train which will take us to London, I really dont want to go,and its very hard to say goodbye to my dad as I love him very much, and will miss him,and his jokes, and his sense of humour, also his stories of his working days when  we have dinner  in the evenings.Dad say he will write to me to keep me infomed of how things are going,also he will tell me all about the flying boats, and what they are like,and where he has been,I can tell my dad is  upset at us going away as much as me,I really wish I could say with him ,and let my Mum go away, by now the train we are to catch is pulling into the ststion,Dad opens the door of the carriage,and puts our cases inside,so I have to reallise that this is it,and we are going away,I give my Dad a big hug, as the Gaurd sounds the whistle  letting the driver  know he can move off I can see  tears in my Dads eyes, and I have  never seen my dad like that in my life.as the train begins to move off all we can do is wave to each other.My Mum seems to be taking it all O K,but I cant help but wonder when I might see Dad again.
           On the train there are many soldiers, and airmen, and the sailers who are going to Chatham  Navy base where they will join their ships,two hours later we arrive in London we have to change  trains for one that is going to Reading,arriving at reading we have to catch a bus to a place called Shinfield Estate,I have never sen so many house in one place,its like a big town to me. but all houses, we find the house where the lady lives that we are to stay with, and she seems very nice,and  has made dinner for us after we have eaten she takes us upstairs to show us the room where  now will use as our home, she  says we will be welcome to come down and sit with her in the front room and she says she will wellcome our company,she says her husband is in the army, and is  in Africa fighting the Germans troops.I will have to sleep with my Mum as there is not another bed in the room.I dont feel very cumfortable about this at all as I have never had to sleep with anyone  even my Dad that I can rember, as I always had my own room back home.Next day my Mum say she will go and see the Headmaster or Misstress at  the school  I will have to attend, so an appointment will be made to give me a little test to find out what class I will be in.so I  to be have  given some sums, and writing to do, and the teacher says she will notify Mum how I  fair.also when I can start at the school.this school is far larger then  my old school, and so many boys and girls,I dont really fancy this school its so overwhelmingly big, and to someone like me  comming from a smaller school.so I will have to grin and bare it as Dad would say. We hear from the school to say I will start in form three,as owing to the schooling I lost back home, I do not come up to their standard.so will have to do a lot to catch up,Mum says the reason  they are in advance to me is owing to the schooling we lost in our county kent with all the air raids.and bombings,so they have not lost so much schooling. this is  why my Mum decided to come away from home to here as its much safer.and I will learn more..
           

Bomb Alley Kid No 22

                                                                              Bomb all  No 22           


Now that we have no home to live in, and my Dad is going to work in Chatham, my mum thinks it may be better if we moved away from Kent so she is gong to make enquiries as to where we might go,she find out that Berkshire  seems to be pretty quiet,so the person who gave her that imformation will also give her some address to write to as the  women is  a friend of hers,so Mum writes to this woman and recieves a reply to say we would be very welcome  to come and stay with her,and she can also find Mum some work so she will have money help with  the money Dad sends us,also there is a school very close to where she lives so that I can  continue  my schooling, I am not very happy about  moveing  because it will mean I have to  leave all my friends and I would rather stay around  somewhere that I  know rather than  have to make new friends.But Mum has made up her mind so we shall move, My dad isnt very happy either about it,as I hear him and Mum talking and he feels it may break up the family,also he would be able to spend weekends with us if we were  nearer,but difficult if we are  all that way away,also travel isnt all that easy with a war going on, and Reading  town is the other side of  London in the west,But my Mum  says she knows Reading  well because my Grandad was  a Skipper on one of the Thames pleasure  Boats when she was  a young girl.infact their Farm was named Letchlade after one of Grandads favourite parts of  the Thames after they moved to Kent.But my Mum  has made up her mind and says she cant stand all the bomings and such that are ging on and is playing on her nerves,so Dad says if thats how she feels then I suppose there is nothing  for it but to let us move..I ask my dad if we really .do have to go,but he says if thats how Mum feels then it will have to be, but again I dont want to leave  my Dad  and my friends, Dad says he dosnt want to not see me and mum either  as often as he could if we were nearer.but Mum has made up her mind so thats it.and if it is likely to make mum ill staying here, then its the best thing for her.as we dont want her to be ill do we ? Dad says he will be able to come and see us sometimes when he can.and when he has the time.    

Bomb Alley No20

These doodle bugs as we now call them, are really likly to breakdown peoples  spirits because you never know when they might be comming over, as there are no warnings with these things you only hear that crackling engine,so it pays to listen  day and night very hard to hear them and hope it dosnt stop anywhere near were you are.
            My Dad has some bad news for me and mum,he says that during the night  our house has been hit with a bomb,and is in a mess,also he say that Uncle Jacks wife is lucky not to have been killed,because she was staying over night,luckly she slept in the front bedroom, and it was the rear of our house that cought the worst of it,so she is O K but the bed was covered in plaster board and glass, which also  hit the bead board so she has been very lucky,I ask how my Rabbits are,but Dad say he is sorry to have to say that they were killed in the blast,and the hutches were blown to pieces, this upsets me and I cry,as I loved my pets,anyway Dad says we will have to come back and rescue as mutch as we can from the house,so its into the horse trap, and Aunty Flow takes us over to what was our house,.when we arrive I cant beleive what I see there is rubble everywhere, and big cracks in the walls, and  hardly any roof left,our shelter is O K so we would have been O K had we been sleeping there.Dad says he will burrow one of the works vans so that we can remove as much of the furniture as is O K.Uncle Jack says we can use one of the sheds he has to keep the furniture in,all my toys  that were kept in a big chest are all O K so thats good on my part.although I cant see me playing wtih them for sometime now.once we  have saved as much as is possible, and taken up to the farm, and stored,My Mum is very upset and cryes all the time, so dad puts his armes around her and says everything will be  O K as we are all well, and safe, and everything else can be replaced in the future,the pretty young girl that lived with the old  lady accross the road from us was killed,they had run under the stairs  as they had no time to get to their shelter,but a piece of  shrapnel from the the bomb which damaged our house  had passed though the bricks at the front of her house and then through the starcase and decapitated her, and yet the old lady had survived with no injury,I really cant beleive she is dead,she was such a lovely girl,but as my Dad says unfurtunaly that is what war does, and can be very unfair.but then war isnt fair anyway
           Now we have no house we have nowhere to stay, but my Aunt Flo says we must come and stay with them at their farm, my Mum dosnt really want to but we havnt anyway to go.so have no  option,it also means that I will have to go to a new school,where my cousins go.in Hales Place Nr. Canterbury,I really dont like this as it means I have to leave all my friends back home, and make new ones, but I have to go to school, so Mum has  made an appiontment to see the head teacher at this schoo lto find out what class I will be put into,this means I have to do a little test,and will have to start in a lower class than my other school at home in Sturry.which was class 4 now I will be in Class 3.  I am not shure that I like this school anyway,but it is a pretty little school  if you like that kind of thing so I will start on the monday with Johny and Ceril my cousins  who go there,but after a time I begin to settle in, and make new friends,some of the boys and girls come up to the farm and we play in the woods on uncles farm,there is one  pretty girl that sends me little love notes,and asking me to meet her I have never had a girl friend as such, so we do meet in the woods, or in the meadow, where we kiss and cuddle,I begine to have feelings for this girl that I never had before with any other girl,but I am now 12 years old,and when Jean Butler and I were playing I was only  about 10 or so,My cousins also have girl friends  as well,we also  try smoking, and buy cigerettes to take  to the woods, and smoke we buy these from our pocket money  my cousins  are usualy sick, but I quite like it, and am enjoying them.and want to appear all grown up like my dad, and his friends,I meet with my girl friend at our usual  meeting place in the woods, after school and after tea,but we have been seen by some man who has told my uncle who in turn tells my Dad,this man has also told the girls Dad saying we were up to no good,.and were only partly dressed,there is no way we were like this, but he is lieing,but you cant argue with addults,so we both get a really hard telling off, and are told we must never  meet again except at school,I recon he was a nasty man  just wanting to get us into trouble,but it did put paid to our lovley little romance..pity because I really did love her in a schoolboy way.
         .

BombAlleyKid No 21

                                                                                   B A No 21



Time goes by, and I hear that my dad has to report to Chatham for his call up registration,this I rember from Raymond the  boy next door and he  of course was killed  on his first flight ,so dad goes up to Chatham and reports to the office centre,as they are ordered to do,When he comes back after reporting he saya he will not be going into the army after all,as whist he was waiting with some of the other men, a man from the aircraft company that makes the Sunderland  flying  Boats asks if there is anyone who can drive heavy lorries as they need a driver for  delivering aircraft parts and bodies  to other parts of the country, as it happens Dad is the only one who has this qualifcation,so he will be driving these lorries. for Short Brothers. but he will have to move to chatham to be nearer the works as he will be on call 24 hrs.we are still  having air raids so this means Mum an I will be on our own, as  Dad wont be at home. we still spend some nights in the shelter,also at school we  spend a lot of time in the school shelters,Dad  says  we should stay with my aunt Flo,at the farm,so this is what we will do, my Mum isnt very happy about it,even though Flo is her sister,and somtimes they have words as my Mum seems to be doing a lot of housework and cooking for them,Dad say this is bound to happen  because where there are seven people all living under one roof it will cause problems,regards sleeping and washing, as there is only the one bathroom and toilet. Once again to-night the air raid sirens sound warning of another raid on its way,so again we have to spend the night in the air raid shelter,at Aunt Floe:s shelter,My Dad has one more week before he has to report to Chatham so he will be on duty again to- night over at Sturry, so we will be on our own except for the cousins and Aunt Flos husband Ritchard,Its around 11 P M when this raid starts so  Mum says she cant sleep, so will sit on the top steps of the shelter and watch what goes on over  the town.meanwhile the rest of us  try to settledown for the night as best we can.In the morning I hear my Mum talking to Aunt Flo about the long conversation she had whilst sitting  at the top of the shelter.with a Nun who she says was on her way to the monestry or convent which is on Uncles Ritchards  Farm down in the woods,Aunt Flo says there is no Convent or Monestry now standing, only the ruins of one that used to be there, and that was a Jesuit Monestry many years ago. so where the Nun was going only she would have known and maybe she had  lost her way,anyway Nuns were not allowd out after midnight from the Monestry they always had to in or back by Ten pm as far as  my Aunt can rember.so  they recon my Mum must have fallen asleep and had a dream,but Mum say because it such a lovly night she herself had actualy gone for a walk around the farm, and it was when she came back that she had met the  Nun, Mum never said what they talked about that night, ButThen one day  my Mum met a old man down at the shops in Hales Place, and got talking to him and happened to mention about the monestry,he new somthing about it but it was a ruin even in his days he said but he rembered that a Nun was knocked down and killed  by a train on the crossing up to the what is now the track up to the farm,and of course  would have been the track to the Monestry, he said that others had heard that the Nun had been seen by some others on occasions,so perhaps  the Nun was a restless spirit { a ghost } My Mum had always maintained that she had a second sight, and had seen ghosts when she worked at the hospital as a nurse,she had never  said anything  to anyone outside of the family as others  would think she was  a little  mad.My Mother was  very religious, and would have many different religious denominations visit our house before we were  bombed out,I guess I will never know the real truth about any of this but my Mum was always adament that she really did talk to this Nun.on that evening.